Streaming Music Killed the CD and Liberated the Artist

The Boom

Streaming Albums are the new trend that is happening within America. In the past, music chart rankings were only based off one statistic. Pure album sales were the only metric that was used to determine an artist’s relevance and prowess. However, companies like Billboard and others, are now using a multi-faceted approach to determine and rank album sales. One of these ways that an artist can add to the charts is by streaming. If someone streams an album a certain amount of times, it counts as an album sale. Another metric now being used is singles bought. Depending on the company, if a certain amount of singles are bought then that translates into 1 album sale. For example, for every 1500 music streams or every 10 singles bought equals one album sale. The company that uses this system is billboard. This new system is better than the old system because times have truly changed and frankly people don’t partake in music the same way that they used too. The average person doesn’t buy music like they used too.

Streaming Dollars Makes Sense

This chart shows the percent change in streaming music compared to other variables. These other variables are digital album sales, digital track sales, CD album sales and vinyl album sales. The music industry is forever changing. In the future, no one will have CD’s. That is why it is very important that one follows the direction music is going to ensure that they stay updated. Part of the reason traditional ways of buying music have gone down is because people don’t believe in owning music anymore. They would rather rent it. Digital Album Sales, Digital Track Sales, and CD sales have all went down because of new technology and the new consumer preference. The old consumer preference was that you paid for music and nowadays you just stream it. Buying music was something that was common but now has turned into a niche market. The average person does not want to own music. If you buy music you own it forever. When you stream music, you are just renting it. A change in consumer preference is always bound to happen. Sites like Tidal, Apple Music and Youtube Red are the new trend in music. Artists such as Kanye West, Jay Z and others have started releasing music strictly through streaming. Youtube created Youtube Red to better stream music. Companies like these are responding the new trend is music.

Consumers pay the monthly streaming service. The artists who are listened to the most get a larger part of the pie. That is how streaming services can charge a relatively fair price per month while at the same time making money. Music is always changing and consumers must start to jump on the trend. Music Ownership will never go away but it will decline until a new trend is created.